After neighbouring Punjab raised a hue and cry over the spillover of wild animals from the border areas of Himachal,as an aftermath of culling of wild animals by farmers,the Himachal Wildlife Department today refuted the reports. Giving out figures about the number of wild animals killed,Chief Conservator of Forest Wildlife,Sanjeeva Pandey,said,Till September 16,only 24 monkeys were reported killed by farmers in various parts of the state. The number of permits issued was 162 for killing 423 monkeys only. So far,no other animal is reported to have been killed. The wildlife department said that it had not received any report of killing of wild animals in the bordering areas of Himachal in Una and Solan districts. It is learnt that the wildlife department of Punjab had written to Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Himachal Pradesh,AK Gulati,today,informing about the increase in the menace of wild animals in the bordering areas like the Hoshiarpur belt. Farmers group Kheti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti that is leading the campaign against crop damage by wild animals condemned the negative attitude of Punjab over the problem of Himachal farmers. Its President Kuldeep Tanwar said,The animal rights organisations and neighbouring states should play a positive role in finding a solution to farmers problems in Himachal and not flare it up as an issue for undue mileage. Though animal rights organisations are blaming the farmers for intervention in the forest land in the state,the actual problem of animal-human conflict in Himachal is an outcome of various faulty policies of the government that increased pressure on resources of humans as well as wild animals. Such policies and laws include Apartments Act for encouraging colonisers,cement,mining and hydro power projects and amendments in Town and Country Planning Act. The farmers group also said that no wildlife culling had been done by farmers in areas bordering Punjab so far and the reports are unfounded.
